数据中心可持续发展的趋势

最近，运输业的碳足迹已经盖过了建筑环境的环境影响——特斯拉，说的就是你。而随着电信行业越来越关注绿色环保，特别是在涉及数据中心的可持续性时，这种趋势可能正在发生变化。

Specifically, hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are leading the way in renewable energy projects to support their data center operations. More on that later.

具体而言，诸如亚马逊网络服务（AWS）和微软等超大型企业正在引领可再生能源项目，以支持旗下数据中心的运营。

**The state of data center sustainability**

数据中心可持续性现状

In a warming world, the good news is that data center energy consumption has remained relatively flat over the past few years, hovering at around 1% to 1.5%, and "almost flat compared to the global energy consumption," says Moises Levy, Ph.D., a senior principal analyst at Omdia. He leads data center power and cooling research and is part of the group's cloud and data center research practice.

Omdia高级首席分析师Moises Levy博士表示，“在一个变暖的世界里，好消息是，数据中心的能源消耗在过去几年里保持相对平稳，徘徊在1%到1.5%左右，与全球能源消耗相比几乎持平。”Levy是数据中心电力和冷却研究的领头人，并参与该团队的云和数据中心研究工作。

However, with more organizations reliant on cloud applications and services, data centers are tasked with balancing workload demand with energy efficiency.

不过，越来越多的组织现在依赖云应用和服务，数据中心的任务是在工作负载需求和能源效率之间取得平衡。

"This fear of runaway data center growth is not a new fear," says Lucas Beran, principal analyst at Dell'Oro Group, who notes that the US Department of Energy released a study in the early 2000s warning about the potential environmental impact of data centers if they did not become more efficient.

Dell'Oro集团的首席分析师Lucas Beran表示，“这种对数据中心增长失控的担忧并不是一种新的担忧。”他指出，美国能源部在上世纪初发布过一项研究报告，报告警告说如果不能令数据中心更加有效率就可能对环境产生影响。

"Data centers are one of the most energy-intensive building types, consuming 10 to 50 times the energy per floor space of a typical commercial office building," according to the Department of Energy.

据美国能源部称，“数据中心是能源最密集的建筑类型之一，每层楼的能耗是典型商业办公楼的10至50倍。”

Liquid cooling, more efficient IT equipment, smart and connected equipment, and green building standards are some of the ways data centers are becoming more environmentally friendly, according to Levy.

Levy表示，液体冷却、更高效的IT设备、智能和联网设备以及绿色建筑标准等等是令数据中心更加环保的一些方式。